


Witness Accounts

by casey_sms (shinygreenwords), shinygreenwords



Category: The Social Network
Genre: Character POV, Character Study, Community:tsn_kinkmeme, F/M, M/M, POV Outsider, Translation Available, 中文翻译 | Translation in Chinese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinygreenwords/pseuds/casey_sms, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinygreenwords/pseuds/shinygreenwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>12 perspectives.</p><p>For <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/390.html?thread=9862#t9862">this prompt</a> at <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/"><b>tsn_kinkmeme</b></a>: "Their relationship as seen through the eyes of other characters."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Witness Accounts

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [见证实录](https://archiveofourown.org/works/375305) by [andelia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andelia/pseuds/andelia)



> Roughly in chronological order.
> 
> There is a [Chinese Translation](http://www.hanabi-andelia.com/2011/04/tsn-witness-accounts-by-casey_sms/) available with much thanks to [andelia](http://andelia.livejournal.com/).

**Erica Albright**

She felt bad for leaving him even if he is an asshole. But then he practically tortured her for caring about him so she knew she was right about him. It didn’t make her happy to be right. It’s true what they say about having feelings for an ex. Some part of her will always care about him even if she resents that she does.

She is glad he has Eduardo. Mark needs someone to have his back because he’s too busy inflicting everyone else with his own version twisted of kindness. Last time Erica saw him, she could see Eduardo hanging in the background even though he was obviously trying to look like he wasn’t waiting for Mark. Eduardo is the only person she knows that could put with that much of Mark’s brand of friendship. She knows first hand that Mark is pretty great in bed, applying himself with the diligence of a star pupil but even that isn’t enough to keep anyone with him. She wonders if Eduardo is in love with Mark because there is no way someone could put up with that much otherwise.

She really does wish him well in whatever he’s doing now. She hope Mark appreciates how lucky he _is_ and stops taking people for granted because if he keeps trying so hard to be an asshole, he’s going to be a very lonely guy who will have no one but himself to blame for that.

  


 **Sean Parker**

As Sean walked in, he could tell right away Eduardo Saverin is the kind of guy who is always on time. The type of gentleman that opens doors and pulls out a chair like a butler. Eduardo is also the type of good friend that will help his friend cut up his steak into bite-sized pieces and nudges a glass of water in his friend’s direction to make sure that he spaces out his drinks. If Mark’s glass was empty, Eduardo would get the waiter to fill it up. If Mark wanted some of his salmon filet, he’d share. If it weren’t for the girl trying to drape herself all over Eduardo’s tailored suits, Sean might have thought Eduardo was Mark’s girlfriend. The rare supportive type you know? Thinking about it that way, Eduardo is perfect for Mark.

But professionally, Eduardo held Mark back with all his ideas of how a proper business should be run. He would never invite scandal even though that’s the best way to get press. Mark is starting to understand that bad press is not as bad as no press, Eduardo didn’t get it. Sure the guy had some great contacts but he didn’t know or wouldn’t take the under-the-table deals that really mattered. Eduardo was too…nice. You have to get your hands dirty if you’re going to play the game. And Sean plays to win. Sean’s got nothing against him. Eduardo’s a good guy but everyone knows nice guys finish last.

Now, he has no idea whether Mark swings that way but he knows Mark never does anything in half measures. He would have had to choose sooner or later, everyone does. He bets that 99.9% of the time, people look out for themselves first. And that’s the right choice because you have to. No one is going to look out for you. There is no such thing as a co-founder. Someone always has to do more of the work. Eduardo put the money in and Sean gets that it was a leap of faith and he was great for supporting his best friend. But Mark _made_ Facebook. Eduardo didn’t do anything and he still thought he deserved a cut of the profits? Sean’s just looking out for Mark. He just helped accelerate the process of Mark’s success. Mark cutting Eduardo out is an unfortunate side-effect. The way he sees it, Mark wanted his project to expand like every great creator. You can’t fault a guy for choosing his vision of connecting people over a college friendship that might have fizzled out anyway. Or if they were fucking, Mark chose the long term choice. Girlfriends, boyfriends whatever, they always leave. With money, he can get anything he wants.

Sean doesn’t think Eduardo is a victim. If Eduardo had really been serious, he would have kept up. He would have held onto Mark so he wouldn’t have had to lose his golden ticket. He fucked himself over by not following Mark to California. He’d signed his own death warrant, no one held a gun to his head. He was a fool to be so trusting. It’s not personal just business and Sean knows only fools mix the two.

Sometimes you have to destroy something perfect to make something beautiful.

  


 **Christy**

Eduardo is cheating on her. She has no evidence and she isn’t sure that he’s actually fucking Mark but she knows he’s cheating on her emotionally. They barely see each other and most of the time when they do, Mark calls up or Eduardo needs to do something. For Facebook. He spends all his time with Mark who is married to the company. Eduardo who is his partner in the company. Take out the company and they are practically married.

Christy feels like she’s the mistress (Mark had him first) even though it’s Eduardo that is the not-so-secret mistress of Mark fucking Zuckerberg, genius programmer. “Sorry I’m going to work” is really just an excuse for Eduardo to eyefuck him across the table. Every time Mark calls Eduardo for a business thing or another, Christy swears Mark’s sounds kind of smug. Or maybe that’s how he sounds. She’s not stupid. Mark might be oblivious or not interested but she knows what Eduardo looks like when he’s interested and he definitely wants Mark’s attention. That’s why she insisted on going to the business dates. Business, yeah right.

Still, it’s not like she didn’t know this when she met Eduardo. When she met him he was the dark, handsome guy next to Mark. She thought she wanted Mark but then she saw Eduardo and she knew she wanted him. Wanted him even more. She thought maybe she could get two for one except it ended up being a complete scam. Because a) Mark is a tease and b) she’s never really had Eduardo’s attention. Eduardo is Mark’s Best Friend. He should get that printed on a business card.

Any part of Eduardo she can get, she has to share with Mark. She can live with that. What she cannot stand is the thought of Eduardo getting some from the Silicon Valley sluts. That’s just asking for too much.

  


 **Gage**

The curly haired man that is sitting in front of him is rude and he’s acting like a sullen little boy who has been sent to the corner for being naughty. Gage sighs inwardly. The thing is, he is practically a boy. At least he was honest about his answer. This Mark boy is totally disinterested in the proceedings in a way that suggests he can’t grasp how important the depositions are. But then maybe that’s how he fools you. He fooled his best friend after all. It reminds Gage that Mark, Mr Zuckerberg, is not really a boy. He’s a calculating man. Maybe he has some sort of disorder. Asperger’s to be kind or perhaps an unfortunate case of narcissistic personality disorder. He definitely has problems relating with people in a normal way.

This Mark, he has to stop himself thinking he is a boy, thinks he’s so smart and the thing is, he’s right. He knows it too. But that doesn’t make him superior to everyone else. One day, the boy is going to realize that having a social network program is not impressive. What is impressive is he managed to turn everyone who believed in him into his opposition – in court. Gage thinks he’s going to be taught a lesson by someone who won’t be fooled by him and he will get wiped like the lines of code he plays with. Gage has seen it happen before. Give it a few years and the same man is back before him, fatigued by lawsuits and all the troubles they bring.

He predicts that Zuckerberg won’t be able to sustain his success in the long run. At least not with that attitude. He only successful now because his, now former, best friend believed in him and supported him. Zuckerberg is never going to get that back. Zuckerberg is the CEO of the biggest rising company and he’s has tremendous financial power. For now. From what it sounds like, he managed to turn his only friend into a star witness for his enemy. There’s going to be a lot of people wanting to stab him from all sides and as much as these powerful men like to think, you don’t get far without some people to back you up. That is, some people not actually after your money or hoping to push you off so they can be where you are. Gage has learned, after years of experience in litigation, riches are aplenty but true friends are rare.

It’s almost enough to make Gage feel sorry for him.

  


 **Cameron Winklevoss**

Having a smart mouth friend, or someone you call a brother, like that just gets you into trouble. Triple that if said person follows up the words with something impulsive. He knows what that’s like. Ty often got him into trouble back when they were boys. Ty’s also had some great ideas and done amazing things. He can definitely see the parallels.

Out of nowhere, this Eduardo, whom he and his brother had never heard of, agreed to be a witness in their case. They learn that Eduardo is the guy that treated Mark like a brother before Mark went and stabbed him in the back. Or more like he put the knife in Eduardo’s hand knowing that he would take it because he trusted him, told him everything would be okay then walked around and pushed him from behind so Eduardo fell on the blade. Something awful and cowardly like that. It wasn’t an accident but a cold and calculated murder attempt. He could maybe understand what Mark did to them, stealing from strangers but Mark did that to someone that treated him like a _brother_. What Mark did to them was wrong. What Mark did to Eduardo? It’s unforgivable.

Cameron would never betray Ty like that. He would rather die with honor than to live without it. But the difference between Ty and him and Eduardo and Mark is he can’t imagine allowing it to get so bad. Ty still get them into trouble but Ty listens to him and they are in it together. It’s a two way street. Sure, there’s been times they’ve were angry at each other and told each other to go away but they’re brothers. You don’t just walk out. Cameron and Ty are so much more than that. They’re twins. They are related by blood and they are genetically identical so they bleed the same. Cameron always has Ty’s back but he trusts Ty to have his. They are perfectly matched in every way.

Vikings and warriors had it right. You can’t trust anyone but your brother. If you can’t trust your brother, you might as well be a dead man.

  


 **Tyler Winklevoss**

Tyler don’t get why Eduardo didn’t just laid there and took it even though the gutless nerd stabbed him in the back. Eduardo who sits in his nice suit and puts himself through the farce of a deposition. Not that he’s saying its right, but everyone knows there are faster, albeit not necessarily legal ways to get the sonuvabitch back. A lawsuit is a waste of time and not nearly half as satisfying. Actions speak louder than words and shit. Eduardo is stupid. Too forgiving for his own good. Or more likely the nerd had him by the balls somehow. The nerd’s sneaky like that.

In any case, Mark should be lucky he came away with a smashed laptop. Tyler would have smashed the guy’s face in and then some. That’s the advantage of being six-five, 220 pounds, and having two of me. You don’t let people fuck with you.

(If they do, you don’t take it. You fuck them right back.)

  


 **Gretchen**

Though, Mr Saverin is her client, she has never met Eduardo and she knows she never will. Not the _Wardo_ Mark once knew. Wardo was someone who gave everything to his best friend and loved him with all his heart. A boy who believed that his best friend could change the world and that they would do it together on one big adventure.

She isn’t supposed to feel anything about it but she hates that Mark took Wardo, the best friend, and made him into Mr Saverin, a businessman who cannot communicate with his ex-best friend without the mediation of the court. This incarnation of Eduardo will insist on being called “Mr Saverin”. He has no diminutives. He despises them. The Eduardo she interacts with and advises is one that will never let anyone in that close again because he knows that people will let you down and even your best friend will betray you. This Eduardo would rather voluntarily exile himself from the world than risk suffering more pain. Eduardo has taken enough risks. Mr Saverin is the persona he constructs to protect himself. She is trained to see weaknesses and to find ways to maximize those of her opposition and minimize her client’s. Her client’s relationship with Mark was, and arguably still is, Eduardo’s Achilles Heel. This is not something she can control even though she knows he tries.

Even without her lawyer training, it doesn’t take much to see that Mr Saverin is barely holding it together. He hasn’t quite mastered his poker face yet. Actually if she is honest, he is failing spectacularly. Sometimes in his lengthy pauses and the way his gaze drops, she can see the hurt best friend bleeding out from Mr Saverin. As his legal representative, she should advise him not to appear vulnerable. Vulnerability can be used for emotional manipulation but the way he’s doing it, he’s disemboweling himself in front of the enemy. She should tell him but she won’t. It’s not healthy to suppress everything plus he doesn’t need more pressure, she gets the feeling he has enough of that already.

  


 **Marylin Delphy**

Marylin can’t bring herself to dislike Mark. She is an intern and she is just learning to find her way now, twenty months in. Mark is younger than her and he had to find his way quickly with the weight of a fledgling company on his shoulders. He even offers to let her work at Facebook after the settlement. It’s a generous offer and he’s going to have a lot of people that are unhappy with him. But she doesn’t stay. She’s already overstepped the boundary once and will probably do it again. They’d become friends and he’d resent her. No one ever fill that place that Eduardo did and she senses that he’s devoted to Facebook because it’s the only part of Eduardo he has left.

The look on his face, Marylin has seen it before. The classic “It could have been” look. The guy ends up winning the battle but ultimately he realizes that he’s lost the war. Or maybe he’s won the argument but lost the person. The settlement is a speeding ticket in the scheme of things for Facebook. But for Mark and Eduardo, it’s a life sentence. For Mark, its a pyrrhic victory and she knows that he knows it. She can see him sitting all alone in the conference room again. Even though it’s almost impossible, she sees him mourn and she wants to tell him there’s still time, maybe-

It’s not her place. She repeats this mantra to herself as she walks away.

  


 **Chris Hughes**

Of the four founders, god it makes them sound like they made Hogwarts or something, he’s the one that’s the least well known. (The movie would have you cast Mark as the ambitious Slytherin, Eduardo the brave Gryffindor, Dustin the intelligent Ravenclaw and him the friendly Hufflepuff). Though Chris thinks it’s really Mark as Ravenclaw and Eduardo the Hufflepuff but it doesn’t sound as neat and you don’t get the legendary Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry. Real life doesn’t fit so neatly into boxes or films. (Maybe they were the Fellowship of the Four and Facebook was the One Ring that ruled them all.) Anyway, popular references aside, he’s the one people gloss over. He’s the founder with the smallest percentage share of Facebook therefore he’s also not a billionaire. He’s not hurting for money no, but he’s hasn’t got the kind of cash the rest of the three have.

He’s also openly gay. It even says so on his Wikipedia page. Despite his misgivings about gaydar, he knows that there was definitely a vibe between Mark and Eduardo. It’s not half as dramatic as the movie but there were little things that he noticed. The two of them curled up on the couch together. Eduardo massaging Mark’s shoulders after a long session of coding. Eduardo paying for Mark’s lunch. Eduardo lounging around in Mark’s hoodie. You can’t deny that Eduardo gave Mark the money just because he asked. You can’t deny that because of Eduardo position as CFO, him and Mark were at least more than friends in the professional sense – and perhaps also in an intimate sense. Things got pretty hectic and they all lived in each other’s pockets. They were tight for a while, the four of them. They had to think up strategies, raise funding and code. They lived, ate pizza, drank and did everything else together. It was natural to pair up. So sometimes Mark and Eduardo were in a world of their own. Chris got caught up in Dustin for a while too. Dustin was experimenting, Chris was glad to help out. He wouldn’t be surprised if Mark and Eduardo did some friendly stress relieving. It’s college, things happen.

The closest he has to a confirmation was that one time he decided to go to a party. Dustin hooked up with a girl and Chris didn’t really like the party scene so he left early. Chris knows what walking in on someone looks like even the two of them still had their clothes on. They were both a little breathless. He knows what Eduardo sounds like when he’s turned on, what Mark sounds like when he’s having an orgasm. (You can’t be roommates without knowing it really. Unless your roommate is asexual. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Chris is totally supportive of sexual diversity. But Mark wasn’t asexual. Eduardo definitely wasn’t.)

He tries not to pry but he was, is, curious. It remains a mystery to him. The Eduardo-Mark friendship-slash-relationship was something not quite sexual but there was definitely unresolved tension. Maybe they wouldn’t even know what to call it themselves. It was something between romance and friendship. You could say it was complicated.

If anyone asks him, he would say that there was a lot went on. It’s not even close to half of it. But no one’s going to ask him. He’s not telling either. He doesn’t care if he’s barely mentioned in the movie, book or whatever. He knows what really happened. Where the movie ended, it was just the beginning. He’s just glad he was able to be a part of something great. They, together, created something that no one else was capable of doing. Thinking about it that way, it was pretty magical.

  


 **Dustin Moskovitz**

He’s almost done packing. He leaves the framed photos last so they won’t get crushed under his stuff. There’s only one of the era covered by That Awkward Movie About Facebook Which Was Really About MarkandEduardo. And no they didn’t party that much because hello they were making Facebook. Plus, who sits around taking photos of themselves anyway? Aside from teenage girls these days. It’s also kind of…gay. (He would never say that out loud because Chris used to smack him in the back of the head every time he said something like that because “gay is not a synonym for stupid/bad/girly, asshole.” Even though old habits die hard, he’s learnt his lesson.)

It’s almost ancient. Chris is in the middle wearing a red shirt that he’s sure was his. (Eduardo isn’t in it because he was the one who took the picture.) Back then, Chris spent twenty minutes in the bathroom every morning spiking up his hair even if he wasn’t going anywhere. (It drove them insane. Dustin pissed in the kitchen sink once because he seriously had to _go_. Eduardo caught him at it and gave him a disapproving look that rivaled his Mom’s.) Dustin keeps that photo around because it’s about the four of them. It captured their dynamic perfectly - the three of them together and Eduardo behind the scenes. He also keeps it because Mark is smiling in that photo. It’s a real smile. Not that he doesn’t give them out these days but it’s not a smile he shows to just anyone. Mark’s changed. He had to. But Dustin knows Mark well enough to be able to tell the difference when he’s smiling to keep the press off his back and when he’s smiling because he’s happy. So there’s only one framed photo. There isn’t that many more of that time that he knows of. They really were quite busy dammit. Sure it’s cool to see a dramatization of history but the movie was totally fucking with his mind. He is almost jealous of his film self. He could have made Facebook, boozed up _and_ had heaps of sex? What the fuck. He totally missed out.

He barely remembers going up to Mark and asking him about the girl. Whatever her name was. He must have been in his girl phase again. Or maybe he was overcompensating. It took him some time to feel comfortable about himself. Dustin doesn’t like labels. He likes people. Chris helped him with that.

Seeing the movie brought all of that back. Mainly because it reminded him of all the stuff that they’d gotten wrong. All the stuff that wasn’t there. It’s funny to see the major focus of the movie to be on Mark and Eduardo’s relationship. Dustin remembers things differently. For him it was mostly coding, stressing about the business and Chris. He’s glad that _that_ wasn’t a subject of the movie. It’d be even more awkward than the MarkandEduardo show. It’d be like The ‘F’ Word hah no even better Queer as Facebook. Chris would be so proud.

He wonders then what could have been if he didn’t ask Mark then, if Mark hadn’t added the relationship part, if he hadn’t gotten that epiphany, if the company hadn’t taken off, if Mark would still be friends with Eduardo... Mark turns to him now. It’s weird. He has to stop himself from saying, “Why don’t you ask Eduardo?” He would never have guessed that Eduardo would not be around Mark but then again he never thought that there’d be a movie based on their lives either.

The movie made it out to be all Mark’s fault. It wasn’t. So maybe Mark got too wired in. That happens to programmers all the time. Eduardo knew how to reach Mark. If he couldn’t call him, he could have emailed him. Shit happens. Now everyone is going to feel sorry for ‘Eduardo’ because they found a really hot actor to play him. Dustin wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry during the deposition scenes. Eduardo did walk around looking like he was going to cry all the time. Still, he knows the depositions upset Mark. Mark didn’t need people to dig it all up now and blame him. Dustin knows that Mark blamed himself because he was the one that picked Mark up from the bar after the settlement. He was the one that had to tell him, it wasn’t all your fault. The movie dug up some really shitty memories and crystallized them forever, making it into entertainment for the masses. He was tempted to stand up during the screening and yell, “Holy fuck, you people are getting off on their pain”. He’s glad they didn’t make Eduardo cry or he really would have lost it. Instead, Dustin gave Mark a squeeze on the shoulder and Mark nodded calmly. Dustin had to remind himself Mark wasn’t the nineteen, twenty year old in the movie. The only thing he appreciated about the movie was that they had someone portray Mark as the driven, forward-thinking genius that he is. He deserves that.

When Dustin made the decision to leave Facebook and took Rosenstein with him, he was worried Mark would see it as another betrayal. But Mark just wished him well. He’s not the guy in the movie just like Dustin isn’t a character. Dustin understands that they attacked him because they based the story on something Eduardo said. Eduardo had been hurt and pissed off, he can get that. Dustin hopes that people won’t mistake Mark-the-Zombieland-Guy for the actual Mark Zuckerberg. Mark isn’t perfect but he’s definitely not an asshole. He doesn’t even try to be one. He actually tries hard not to be. So even though Dustin’s not going to be working at Facebook anymore, Dustin totally has Mark’s back. Mark’s his best friend and nothing is going to change that.

  


 **Mrs Saverin ([from my Recipe!Verse](http://archiveofourown.org/works/143159))**

She remembers Mark. He had brown curly hair, a little smaller than her boy. He was cute, very polite. Perhaps a bit shy. He called her ‘Mrs Saverin’ even though she told him to call her Adriana. He helped Eduardo make onion soup. He was the boy who brought Eduardo home. She liked him.

She knows Eduardo would have left them, his family, for him. That’s what she told her husband. She told her husband that he better not make their son choose. She would not lose Eduardo like that. A mother knows her boy and her boy was definitely in love. (Eduardo will always be her sweet boy no matter how grown up he is.) It’s not what she expected but she could see that Mark made Eduardo very happy and that was good enough for her.

After Mark, he brought an Asian girl named Christy. She was a nice girl if a bit…too much. Adriana remembers that she talked a lot and picked at her food. Christy was the complete opposite of Mark. Eduardo didn’t hold her hand. When the girl sat in his lap, he gently pushed her off and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as was proper. Her husband grunted but didn’t say anything. Beyond the hellos and goodbyes, her husband and son barely talk though Adriana could tell her husband is satisfied his son brought home a girl. She remembers telling herself to be grateful they were both in the same room without arguing.

Adriana doesn’t ask Eduardo about Mark. She won’t ask, she won’t interfere. All she knows is that something went wrong and they aren’t friends anymore. Whatever happened, Eduardo’s never been the same. She can see it in his eyes. She is scared to see that he hates himself for what he’s done. He won’t let her offer any comfort. He is like a guest in his own home and it breaks her heart. She hopes that it’s because he feels that he’s too old and not because he feels like he doesn’t deserve it.

At the table, Eduardo smiled but she knew he was unhappy. When she finally got him alone in the kitchen, she asked him if anything is wrong, he said no. He wouldn’t look at her and that was when she knew he was lying. But he’s grown up and she couldn’t force him to tell her. Instead, Adriana pulled him towards her, kissed him on both cheeks and told Eduardo to take care of himself and to be happy. He told her he will and he has to go to a function for work. That was the last time Eduardo came home.

Eduardo hasn’t come home since. It’s been five years. Her son is busy and successful and she’s so very proud of him. Adriana calls him but she gets his secretary more often than him. When she can get through to him, he listens to her talk and asks all the right questions like she taught him but he neatly avoids saying anything about himself. Eduardo never mentions Mark or that girl Candy or anyone not related to work. Adriana doesn’t pry because she doesn’t want him to avoid her. Adriana doesn’t want to be greedy. Her life is good, her son sends her beautiful, expensive things. Secretly, she wishes she could give it all up for the Eduardo who made soup with his best friend and came home. And if she can’t have that she will settle for the Eduardo who came to her when he was hurting and believed that she could kiss things better.

  


 **You**

You are sitting at the computer reading yet another fic. You are the person that searches for “Mark Zuckerberg” and “Eduardo Saverin” online, scouring pages for that elusive clue that might unlock the mystery. The trail that Mark leaves online is lengthy. But where is Eduardo now? Is Mark happy where he is now?

You are the person that wonders “What If…?” What if they ran into each other again? What if Mark said sorry? What if Eduardo forgave him? You wonder if things could have been different if Eduardo hadn’t gone to New York. If Sean hadn’t appeared. If they had met later. If they had been older. If. If. If.

But it’s just a movie. A really great movie but it’s Not Real. It’s fiction they say. Maybe it’s based on some facts but mostly entertainment. You don’t care. It strikes you that it only happened around a few years ago. To think ten years ago Facebook didn’t even exist. Within seven years, it’s a major social network and now a movie. You can’t stop thinking, wishing that maybe the real Mark watching the film might change things. Given time, could they be friends again? You know it probably won’t happen. It’s like bands that go on hiatuses. They rarely ever come back. But some do, a little voice inside you says.

You click on another Mark/Eduardo fic and let the words breathe life to images and carry you along. It inspires you, makes you think about friendship, love and forgiveness and you know that it’s more than a story. Somewhere out there is a Mark and Eduardo. You don’t care if it’s stupid and sappy but maybe they are waiting find each other again. You can’t help but wish that this story will be the one that you hoped for. The one that could be. Even if it’s a tiny part of you, you believe that things can change, that people can change and that it’s never too late. You _believe_ in that possibility and imagine the happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally planned for 9. It ended up as more. Gretchen was a surprise.
> 
> Sean’s line is from MCR which I also happen to love. Tyler's POV was short on purpose because I feel like he's more of an action guy than a thinking guy. I tried to base this on both canon and the movie and to comment on that gap (but sometiemes I made choices favoring the movie - obviously pretending Erica and Christy existed). Chris' [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hughes_%28entrepreneur%29) does actually say he's "openly gay". Dustin POV based on [his response to the movie](http://www.quora.com/What-does-Dustin-Moskovitz-think-of-the-Facebook-movie) and [the actual photo](http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/socialnetwork/rmmts.jpg). Him leaving FB with Rosenstein is also real.
> 
> I spent quite a bit of time on this, changing it from 3rd person close focalization (like it is now) to 1st person and then back to 3rd person. I feel weird using first person when I’m not actually the character? IDEK. It felt jarring for me especially since the sections were short. So when I added the last section, I realized it made more sense to stay with 3rd (because realistically we/I am not actually the characters and we are hearing their perspective as outsiders while we are ourselves outsiders – I’m probably thinking way too much about this). Let me know what you think :) I’d love to hear from you.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [i'll keep you in my arms tonight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/730039) by [kelizabethn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelizabethn/pseuds/kelizabethn)




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